Leo XIV Defends Life Before Uruguay’s Leaders
Opening his South America tour in Montevideo, the Pope links democracy, family, care for the vulnerable, and a secularism open to faith.
On Friday, November 6, 2026, Pope Leo XIV opened his first apostolic visit to South America at Plaza Independencia in Montevideo, addressing President Yamandú Orsi, state authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps. The 11-day journey, running through November 17, will also take him to Argentina and Peru.
Standing near the Artigas monument, the Pope drew on bas-reliefs depicting the 1811 Exodus of the Eastern People, known as the Redota. He recalled José Artigas’s April 1813 Congress address—“My authority emanates from you and it ceases by your sovereign presence”—and noted that 2025 marked forty years of uninterrupted democracy in Uruguay. Public authority, he stressed, exists to serve the common good within the rule of law.
Life, Family, and Care Until Natural Death
Citing the teaching that the common good embraces future generations, Leo XIV praised Uruguay’s near-total shift to renewable electricity as “a remarkable result,” while naming fresh challenges in transport, production, and the responsible use of land, water, and energy.
On the protection of life he was unambiguous: “The unborn already belong to the human family and to the future of their people. Their absolute dependence on their mother does not diminish the dignity to which they are entitled or the protection they deserve.” He added that “the protection of the one about to be born and the support of those who welcome them are inseparable.” Quoting St. John Paul II, he affirmed that “the future of humanity is forged in the family.”
Turning to work and artificial intelligence, he invoked *Laborem exercens*—“work is for man, not man for work”—and warned that technology must not reduce workers to “a disposable piece.”
Faced with the painful reality of suicide, he said adequate health care, family ties, and the closeness of the community are inseparable: “None should ever feel like a stranger among their own.” It is everyone’s responsibility, he continued, “to ensure that each person can live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life.” Catholic teaching forbids euthanasia; the Pope’s words underscored accompaniment to natural death without naming recent civil legislation.
Referring to his own recent lung cancer surgery, he insisted: “Ensuring that health care is accessible to everyone, regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society.”
Faith, Secularism, and the Common Good
On the relation of Church and state, Leo XIV said secularism must allow “believers and nonbelievers to live together in freedom and respect” without confining the religious dimension to the private sphere. Religious communities “can contribute to the common good while respecting the autonomy of civil institutions.” He recalled the 1832 apostolic brief by which Gregory XVI named Fr. Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga Apostolic Vicar of the Republic, rooting today’s dialogue in the country’s earliest ecclesial history.
The address set the tone for a visit centered on the dignity of every human life, the family as the forge of the future, and a public square in which faith serves the common good without apology.